Searching for Europe

A personal journey

I have been fortunate for the past three years to have been living in Europe, in two different countries, Denmark and the Netherlands. Before that, twice in England, both as a child and an adult. Obviously, as an Australian, travelling beyond the local pub and chippy is the order of the day. Every break and many weekends are used to take advantage of the compact geography and good public transport infrastructure of Europe (compact by antipodean standards).

But I must admit to having run into a quandary. I can’t find this weak, vacillating, old, and collapsing entity called Europe. You know the one that Putin and his stooges talk about (and the recent US NSS). I have an even bigger problem: I don’t even know how to define Europe; it is incredibly amorphous, magnificently so in its variation. So, gentle reader, please humour me by letting me try.

If you use the geographic definition, you end up with the vast majority of the Russian populace, who are certainly not pro-European. Europe would be eating itself. You could, of course, just define it through the European Union, but with a compromised Hungary, vacillating Austria, petulant Slovakia and a schizophrenic Czech Republic at present, that is problematic. Additionally, it doesn’t consider those seeking membership. Common currency or Schengen don’t work either. The European Parliament and Commission seem to have a problem with Russian infiltration (and U.K. Reform). It can’t be NATO, as that is transatlantic; in addition, two NATO states are at loggerheads in Cyprus.

That is only in the contemporary context; the political and social evolution of Europe historically is as problematic. It was not long ago that European powers spread across the globe with an avarice that would make the Cheeto Caesar blush. Before the Modern Period, wars of conquest and ideology ripped through all lands. But these conflicts and causes, when you visit any regional centre, are defining, from the Holy Roman Emperor in Aachen to the distributed wealth of the Hanseatic League, a multi-national trading entity executed without a permanent charter. A self-organising entity that would make the current modern corporations envious. Such entities still shape the nature of regions. Just like the Muslim and Indian influences in Andalusia. Similarly, large-scale conflagration shaped important reforms. Not just the ideal of a unified Europe post WW2. The outcomes of the Congress of Vienna and the Treaty of Westphalia (which we will return to) are just two.

I cannot find a European identity. I recently travelled through the Baltic States (brilliant), drive two hours, different languages, religious history, daily routines, motivations, cuisine, and local spirit (both alcohol and human). I have repeated this experience in France, Spain, Italy, Austria, and the United Kingdom. Identically in the Scandi nations.

It is certainly obvious that trying to view Europe as some homogeneous entity (and large nation tendency, maybe, the US and China?) is fraught. Monolithic but apparently malleable at the same time. It just is not, and Russia is aware of that and plays all the cracks masterfully.

I am, of course, just a punter in this domain, and these are just first-person ponderings, while sitting at railway stations and airports. There are faculties at Universities that study such. What is certain, again, firsthand, is seeing the benefits of joining the European Union for new members and the security that NATO gives the Baltic States, which is beyond any capability they could ever possess. The continued drift of former Soviet satellites to the EU is a sign that something must be right.

There is a definition of the modern nation state that it is defined by two functions: firstly, the monopolisation of violence, and secondly, the provision of services. Having lived in Denmark, I would add one more in a post-modern context, as a carer at my kids after school care said, ‘We look after each other.’ Well, they certainly tax for it, but in my view, it works; it is also deeply culturally aligned, from King down (interestingly, Danish has no formal method of address for ‘sir’ or ‘madam,’ nothing automatically deferential). It is important not to ignore that, like the rest of the Scandi nations, the treatment of indigenous people is not a high point and still needs a lot of work. These are difficult demons for them. But they are trying. Demark implements broader social responsibility as a part of democratic government in a capitalist economy. It is certainly not socialist in any overtly political or functional way.

Denmark is certainly at an extreme end (a good extreme in my view) of this ideal, but if you look at the economic uplifting of Poland, the recovery of the Baltics from horrendous Soviet occupation, it is not an abstraction or unique. More broadly, the regional airports and upgraded transport infrastructure across Europe are another example of this uplifting.

I would put it to you that this is where Europe is to be found; we help each other. Maybe the ‘go it alone’ rhetoric of Brexit was compatible after all, and the consequences are obvious. I may be wrong, but I think we are about to find out whether this is the European ideal. The response to the Greenland delusions of Cadet Bonespurs and the lies of VP Eyeliner Earl. In my view, are a definitional moment for finding Europe, after the lost opportunity of the start of the Russia-Ukraine War (though US incompetence did muddle that).

Even a fully unified Europe cannot resist a focused US military effort. However, resistance would not mark the end of Europe but the swansong of the great experiment in US democracy. This is the 21^st Century, not the 19^th or even the early 20^th. Regressive views of power are just that, regressive. Indeed, President Spanky Mc Liarface’s Epstein distracting rhetoric and brutality are actually harkening back to a darker era before the imperialism of the 19^th Century. That of acute ideological conflict (not territorial conquest masked by the political), similar to the 30 Years’ War. The Treaty of Westphalia (see I said I would) was an enlightened consequence of that conflagration; the rest of history is a better history than without it. Benedict Donald is attacking those pillars.

So the ideal of Europe is now under assault; if it is mere rhetoric or physically enacted, this is immaterial; it needs a response. Hopefully, the lesson will also benefit Ukraine; it should be obvious by now that the US has exited stage right (and turning off the stage lighting just to help Russia).

Regardless of what happens, Europe will endure; it is physically too large and too rich to be swallowed by Russia. On a positive note, a unified Mittel Europe is no longer feared, and there is considerable stabilising influence and strong intellectual and moral leadership coming from both the Baltic and Nordic States. The assumption of a right-wing leader in Italy has actually strengthened anti-Russian resolve. It is a wildly imperfect, amorphous, and at times contradictory entity. Polluted by some corrupt and compromised leaders from all sections of society. It seems, however, in a surreal moment darker than a polar winter, the true post-modern ideal of Europe is crystallising. We help each other.

I sincerely hope that I have finally found Europe.